My preschool sons were huge Superhero fans! They rushed home from kindergarten every day to change into the Batman and Superman costumes Grandmother made them, just in time to watch Superhero cartoons, lying on their Superhero pillowcases.

One day they had a question for me, “Can’t Superman come to our house some day?” Sadly, I had to break the news to them that this was not going to happen.

“You see, boys, the people on TV are not ‘real,’” I explained.

“But what about the newsmen and the President?” Jay asked.

I stammered a bit, “Well…yes…so okay…some people on TV are real…and some are not. Some of the stories have really happened, and some are make-believe.”

I realized that a BIG part of my job as a parent was to teach them what is REAL, and what is not!

Foundational to their understanding of the truth of what is real, is a firm understanding of God. God’s very nature is rooted in truth. His Word tells the true story of the world, how it originated and why it’s in turmoil today. It outlines God’s boundaries for human behavior and gives reassurances that these are for our good.

Children need firm teaching about the unconditional love of God and the wisdom of His way. For the rest of their lives, their emotional well-being will depend upon how well they can sort out God’s truths from the lies satan will drop into their minds to confuse them!

So above all, we must teach them God’s Word is REAL. If children grasp that God really did create the world, and send a great flood, and part the Red Sea, and send a Savior…then they are more likely to hold firm to the finer points of obedience to God, when they are older. Establish the foundational truth of scripture, while they are still young.

A good place to begin is by regularly reading Bible story books aloud to your children. There are many Bible story books that are beautiful and engaging. Three highly recommended ones are:

The Story Children’s Bible (NIrVersion), by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee

the One Year Children’s Bible, by Rhona Davies

365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories, by David Partner.

All of these present the truth of Bible events, in the historical order that they occurred. It is important to choose a collection that arranges Bible stories chronologically, not jumping around randomly between Old Testament and New Testament events. This gives the child a clear vision of how God worked in the world from creation to Christ.

While they are young, establish a habit of sharing with your children the truth of God’s Word, and help them understand that Bible stories are real, while many of their other story books are pretend. Don’t let them confuse Superman and Batman with the true superheroes of the Bible, who walked in righteousness and demonstrated the power of the Living God.

“Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Jennifer is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is mom to two grown (twin) sons, two wonderful daughters-in-law and four granddaughters. Her late husband, John, pastored two churches in Barry County, Missouri, and one in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Jennifer serves in teaching, music and lay counseling through her church, Arnhart Baptist Church, Purdy, Missouri. She also enjoys leading retreats and Bible studies for women.

It’s that time of year where school has begun and after school activities have overtaken our evenings and weekends. As we tackle all of these tasks and run our 101 errands for the week, are we neglecting the most important thing? Are we taking the time to pray for our children, and to pray with them?

Yes, activities for our children are great for them. It’s a great way to build their morale, keep them active understand the value of being a team player, ect. However, are we becoming to exhausted to pray? Have our prayers became routine?

Imagine if we invested as much time and effort praying for our kids as we spend on their sports activities, buying their uniforms, going to their practices, their games, and cheering them on at the game!

It’s great to be successful in school and it’s also awesome to be the star athlete, but remember God measures success differently than we do.

If we aren’t praying for our children it leaves our children wide open to the temptations of the enemy. Peter 5:8 says the enemy of our souls is on the prowl, ever looking for someone to devour. That means we are targets… me, you, our spouses, our children.

11 ¶ Even a child is known by his deeds, Whether what he does is pure and right. ~ Proverbs 20:11 (NKJV)

By Bro. John L. Cash

Dear Anne,

I hope you and Atticus have had a good week since my last letter. I’ve re-read it this morning, and I think my advice still stands: “When it comes to the developing faith of your children, PRAY—don’t panic.”

And after giving it some more thought, I’ve reached a conclusion. As parents, we are usually very poor judges of where our kids are in their relationship with God. I have a good reason to believe that, because that is what the Bible teaches. Jesus said that individuals are not even good judges of their OWN relationship with God.

Take a look at this passage:

Matthew 25:31 ¶ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

33 “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;

36 ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?

38 ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?

39 ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;

43 ‘I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

46 “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

You’ll have to admit, it’s kind of an eye-opening story. The way I read it, there are a lot of people who are going to be surprised on the Day of Judgment. Some people will think they were awesome Christians in this life, and the Lord says He never knew them. And others who thought they never did anything for God will find out that they loved and served Jesus every day. What a nice surprise!

Whenever I read this passage, it always makes me want to re-think my relationship with Jesus Christ. Is showing compassion to others the habit of my life?

And there’s a wonderful flip-side to the story. Maybe our kids are just the kind of people that our God is looking for. Maybe their spiritual condition is better than we ever imagined.

Isn’t that a wonderful, comforting thought?

More next week,

Brother John

Dr. John L. Cash has spent the last 29 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. (On week days has a desk-job at a public school, where he used to teach Latin on closed-circuit-television.) He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in the parsonage next door to the Antioch Christian Church (where “Kissie” the pastorium-Siamese-cat has been making a lot of noise during the middle of the night and waking folks up this week.) Their kids include Spencer (age 23), his wife Madeline (age 23), and Seth (age 20).

If we are “friends” on my personal Facebook page, you may have noticed a few days ago I wrote a short post about football season. My husband coaches and while I love football season and the excitement it brings, I was feeling down that we would have less time at home togetherand I would have less help with the little ones.

When talking to a fellow coach’s wife about this, she reminded me that we have to “share” our husbands. She said you can’t keep him all to yourself when he is blessing to others when you share.

That got me thinking… 1.) she is right! I know he is in the right profession and I do need to share him! I can’t be selfish and want him at home all the time when he can make an impact on more lives when he steps outside of our house! 2.) What else am I not sharing gracefully?

There are many aspects in my life that God has called me to “share.” Am I doing that? Am I sharing the things He wants me to share and am I doing it nicely?

Two things that immediately come to my mind is time and money. Do I make sharing my time everyday and making sure God is included in the 24 hours that He gives me each day? Honestly… no, not always. He is the one that gives me time, after-all. Surely I can make time to share with Him.

Do I share the money that he has blessed my family with? Honestly, probably not enough… And I am always happy to share financially? Probably not.

While reflecting on this idea of sharing and how to share our God given blessing with others, I have created a little mental list of things I need to start sharing. What is God asking you to share? I know he is asking me to share and it is my prayer I can do that happily!